What it was like to be a “MIU freshman”

The MIU gates are very similar to a harbor. The ships (buses), unload their merchandise (the students) onto the docks (MIU parking). Then the customs agents (MIU security guards), carefully examine the validity and structure of the goods. Also known as the process of showing your ID thus proving you belong to that college, and your purse being scanned for possible bombs. If you pass the test, you’re free to wander into the world that welcomes you with crowdedness and noise.

Don’t think, just push

MIU, although a very successful university, but possesses one flaw: one long and rather narrow pathway leading from the gates to the buildings. The morning of each student is haunted by that pathway, which seems to be getting narrower every day. In order to get through, the process consists of a series of hit and runs. Just plug your headphones in and storm through, especially if you’re a fast walker, don’t stop to apologize if your shoulder brushes someone else’s. It’s inevitable if you want to reach the main buildings in less than a 20 minute walk through sleepy floating heads in the morning, to have some collateral damage.

We’re all the same

The social segregation is omniscient and eminent. It will be one of the first things you notice. Right after the long hallway, the main building is the home for everything concerning university management, but also for business and mass communication students. It’s why they’re piled up by the masses in front of it in the cool kids’ area. There are 9 benches in that place, somehow keeping hundreds of students of both majors seated around the clock. It’s hard to notice at first because of all the cigarette smoke in that area, but once your retina is damaged and you smell like a chimney, your eyes adjust and you barely notice it anymore. It’s all downhill from there of course, the further away from the cool spot, the less worthy you are in the eyes of many cool kids. Nevertheless, we’re all the same, we can numb ourselves with the idea that we’re better than other so we can feel better about our miserable lives but it doesn’t change that we’re a sacks of bones, blood and tissues walking around in one place with one goal; get a degree and getting the hell out of there.

Help, Police!

The only thing you can be sure of as an MIU student is that you are probably more protected than the president of the United States. Security is literally around every corner, there is probably more security at MIU than there is starbucks branches in the entire world. The ironic part isn’t that nothing that interesting happens anyway that requires that much security, but that if there were less security and more cleaning crew, no one would have to sit on sticky benches or have cigarettes buttons attached to the bottom of their shoes. If you have paruresis, which is the fear of public restrooms, you will have a hard four years and probably graduate with bladder problems. On a scale of public restrooms found in the street to Dusit’s restrooms, the MIU toilets will probably rank somewhere in the middle, this doesn’t sound bad when you think about it but looks awful when you really have to pee. In defense, the cleaning ladies do their best, but careless people are everywhere.

I’m the cookie monster, num num num num…

MIU is known to be home for as many types of food as you want. It is impossible to get through freshman year, in fact through any year, without gaining twice your weight. The food is tempting and a mean of entertainment especially for those with long gaps. The only obstacle is to find somewhere to actually eat the food you just emptied your wallet to buy. The benches are well spread, but definitely not enough for thousands of students, nor are they tempting to sit on since they’re always under direct sun light, which is for a college built in the middle of the dessert, a really bad sign, or just a sign that you’re going to pass out from the heat. All the seats hidden from the sun are always taken, and that is the true struggle of going to MIU.

I will never deny that the overall experience of MIU is pretty amazing. The college has a homey feeling about it and rather cozy. And the best thing about it is that there is a place for everyone. There is a place for the cool kids as much as there is a place for the misfits and any other categories. It’s a place that unites us all and gives us sense of purpose. Every single place you’ll ever cross is flawed; there is no doubt in that. But it’s what lies within you that allows that place to move from a place to a home. MIU, offers you a chance to reconnect with the simplest side of you, the one that doesn’t judge on sight and doesn’t discriminate against what is different. I thought you should know what you’re up against none the less.